


i'm in your maze (maybe i don’t want to get out)

by joohwangie



Category: BLACKPINK (Band)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-18
Updated: 2019-09-27
Packaged: 2020-09-07 02:41:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,253
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20302105
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/joohwangie/pseuds/joohwangie
Summary: Jennie was pretty sure she hated getting to know new people until she meets that exchange student in an unusual, awkward and significantly wet way.





	1. the sun itself

Jennie rubs her eyes, trying to ease the stinging heat that makes the task of keeping them open to finish the last calculations even more tiresome. Her afternoon was based only on getting her butt dormant for spending too much time sitting in the same position, but at least she'll get a good grade on her Math tests — well, at least that's what she expects.

Kim Jennie never doubts the ability of her nervous system to betray her on the eve of tests and cause complete chaos in her entire body and mind.

She sighs, already wondering what she's having for dinner. She's so exhausted that she doesn't even try pushing Kuma away as he jumps on her lap and leaves a gentle lick on her cheek before settling between her thighs.

Her parents probably won't arrive in time to find her awake, as usual, so maybe she's just ending up taking a warm shower, eating some _ramyon_ and exchanging some texts with her friends before finally going to bed.

And this is what she does as soon as she finishes the calculations that once seemed infinite. After taking a long shower and putting on cozy, comfortable pajamas, Jennie heads to the vast kitchen followed by Kuma and Kai to prepare her meal. She puts a calm indie song on her cell phone just so as not to feel so solitary with the silence that dominates the huge house — it is, in fact, one of the things that she definitely hates in there.

Jennie could never experience the sensation of a comfortable silence because of her generalized anxiety; all the silences for her are rather suffocating, especially when it comes to people, but nothing compares to the silence of her own house most of the time. It doesn’t make her feel anxious, but lonely, which can be worse at times.

She usually calls her friends over to have their company and just then staying at home becomes bearable, since the thing that less exists in her house when Chaeyoung and Jisoo are there is silence. However, today she was determined to study and knew she wouldn’t get a minute of peace or concentration with the girls around, so she'd rather leave it for another day and deal with that silence on her own.

When she’s done preparing her _ramyon_, she returns quickly to her room with the steaming packet in hands. She sits down on the bed leg-crossed and turns the television on any random channel just to fill the room's silence while she eats.

Although _ramyon_ is one of Jennie’s favorite things in life, she can't savor it as she wishes, as her thoughts are now fully focused on what will happen the next morning; there will be a welcome ceremony in her school for the students of the exchange program.

And for goodness sake, were it not for Jisoo’s threats and Chaeyoung's sweet, comforting words, she wouldn't even set foot in that goddamn school tomorrow. Just the idea of having to welcome and interact with strangers already terrifies her, and the fact that they're foreigners makes her even more nervous.

Perhaps she’ll talk about it with Chaeyoung and Jisoo one more time before going to bed. For now, she'd rather focus on her _ramyon_.

_But what if an exchange student asks for her help and she can't help? What if it ends up being a total disaster as always and she can't even talk to them properly?_

Jennie takes a deep breath, swallowing the last portion of her food with struggle and leaving the empty package aside. She hates being unable to control her thoughts and being so easily affected by them.

—

Jennie doesn't break her routine and once again arrives at school late. However, contrary to what she was expecting, the environment isn't tumultuous at all. Maybe because she's a few minutes late, but, _fuck_, is there not even a single exchange student late? Thus, when she would enter the auditorium, the attention would be diverted to them, not her.

The cat-eyed girl makes her way to the auditorium facing her own feet, although there is no one in the hallways for her to avoid facing, but walking with her gaze on her footsteps has become a habit in which she can no longer get rid of, although she keeps trying to.

As she folds down the last aisle, her shoulder bumps into something steady and she staggers back, feeling her sweater moisten at the same time her body goes into alertness.

"_Mì na!_" a female voice mourns before she can have any other reaction. "_Chan kor tode!"_

Jennie frowns at the unfamiliar words, the nervousness vanishing in an instant and being replaced by surprise and curiosity. She looks at the girl's face, the unusual features, flashy and yet so beautiful to her.

"_Chan kor—"_ she speaks again, but this time, she interrupts herself. "I'm sorry," the foreign girl corrects her own speech with a heavy accent as she bites her lip nervously. "Please, I'm really sorry."

"I-It's okay," even though she's as nervous as the foreign girl is, Jennie tries to make her feel as comfortable as possible. She's one of the exchange students.

_Okay_, she didn't imagine it would be _that_ embarrassing. However, realizing that they both are probably sharing the same level of nervousness at the moment is somehow... comforting. "I'm the one who should apologize. I should be less distracted."

That's all Jennie is able to formulate. She looks away from the girl's almond-shaped, expressive eyes, feeling suddenly intimidated and vulnerable.

"Did I hurt you?" the girl with beanie and bangs asks, approaching as she holds onto the straps of her backpack. "I'm sorry for... making you wet."

Jennie's cheeks suddenly heat up. She looks down and only then realizes that her sweater is soaked. Tries to ignore the double entender. She knows it wasn't intentional; the foreign girl seems too embarrassed to even pronounce the words clearly; making jokes isn't an acceptable possibility.

"It's okay, seriously," Jennie opens a soft, sincere smile, not really getting angry or hurried to run away, which surprises herself. "Are _you_ okay? I hope you didn’t get hurt either."

"Thank you. I'm fine," the girl returns the smile, visibly more relieved, and makes a slight bow in greeting. "Manoban Lalisa. I'm an exchange student and I came from Thailand."

Jennie matches the gesture, "Kim Jennie."

"Should we be in the... auditorium?" the girl's eyebrows unite behind the bangs as she tries to read something written on some papers in her hand.

"Yes, um, we're a little late," Jennie says, uncertain about what to say next. "Do you want company? I'm going to sit with my friends and there's probably going to have a lot of vacant places near where they are."

The Thai girl opens a lively smile, confirming with her head, "Yes! I love meeting new people. If they are as kind as you, it will be really, really cool."

Jennie bites the inside of her cheek to repress a smile she doesn’t know where it came from. If she'd known she'd meet such a... _nice_ person, she might've tried to convince her brain last night that it wouldn't be as bad as it sounded.

"Shall we?"

"Shall we," Lalisa repeats, following her.

Jennie turns around, hiding an amused smile.

To their relief, no one notices their presence as they enter the venue. Jennie spots Chaeyoung and Jisoo and beckons Lalisa to follow her, peering over to the seats.

"Hey," Jennie whispers, getting the attention of both girls.

"You around here this early?" Jisoo teases, raising an eyebrow as she realizes Jennie isn't alone.

"Hi, good morning, sorry for the delay," Lalisa curves slightly in greeting. "Manoban Lalisa. I'm an exchange student and I came from Thailand."

Jennie feels like smiling for the fact that the girl used exactly the same words as when she introduced herself to her.

Apparently, Lalisa memorized those words; although it may sound simply polite, there is a certain automatic rhythm in her speech and also a strong accent that might prove Jennie’s point.

"Kim Jisoo," the oldest girl says, smiling in a way that Jennie fears what might be coming next.

"Park Chaeyoung," the girl with cute rounded cheeks introduces herself as well, but unlike Jisoo, she corresponds the reverence.

Jennie bites her lip, feeling her friends’ gaze analyzing her. She sits between Jisoo and Lalisa and looks down at her own hands. Finally, it seems safe for her to relax and breathe.

Until she hears Jisoo voice talking in a teasing tone.

"Lalisa, I don't know you, but just for being able to get Jennie wet in public for the very first time you saw each other, I know you're worthy of my respect."

Jennie widens her eyes, staring at Jisoo with flushed cheeks. Chaeyoung opens her mouth, starting to laugh as she tries to cover her smile with her hands.

"Oh, no," the exchange student smiles, shaking her head slowly. "It was an accident. I thought she was going to be angry, but she was actually really kind and polite."

A relieved sigh escapes Jennie's lips. Lalisa didn't catch the double meaning in Jisoo’s sentence. Perhaps because she isn’t used to the language yet. Jennie stared at her friend with a look that could freeze hell itself.

"Lalisa, Jisoo is extremely unfiltered and lame, don't take her too seriously," Chaeyoung says, lightly pushing Jisoo’s shoulder with hers.

"Liar!" Jisoo gasps, her hand on her chest, a fake offended expression on her face. "You can take me seriously. However, I'm not responsible for the consequences. So it's up to you."

"For your own sake, Lalisa, ignore her," Chaeyoung says.

A melodious laugh slips out of the Thai girl's lips, as she tries to stifle it with her hand over her mouth. Just then she remembers that they're in an auditorium and looks around to make sure she didn't get much attention. That's when she notices the cat-like eyes are gingerly locked on her. The girl has a bashful smile on the corner of her lips that fades away as soon as Lisa's eyes meet hers. Jennie feels her cheeks heating up and then looks away, pretending to pay attention to one of the exchange students' speech.

—

"No, but seriously, I thought it was going to last forever," Jisoo complains as they leave the auditorium, heading to the cafeteria.

"You complain too much, Soo," Chaeyoung says, rolling her eyes playfully.

"If I keep inside of me everything I feel, I'll probably die really young of a heart attack," Jisoo replies. "You know, Lisa, I'm afraid Jennie might have a heart attack someday. Chaeyoung... huh, I don't think so. But Jennie... it took so long for me to learn about her. She's like an unreadable book sometimes."

Jennie smiles silently, placing her hand on the back of her neck in an instinctive gesture, trying to get rid of the shyness. She can feel the Thai girl staring at her curiously.

"How long have you known each other?" Lalisa asks no one in particular, sipping the orange juice through the straw.

"As soon as we started high school," Jennie responds.

Jisoo and Chaeyoung share a quick amused look, both surprised for the same reason; Jennie is trying to interact with a stranger willingly. And no one had to encourage her before.

"You seem pretty close," Lalisa comments, turning fully towards Jennie.

"We really are," Jennie shrugs softly and then looks up at the Thai girl. "Although some people here talk to me sometimes, they're my only friends. I don't really like talking to other people here. I pretty much suck at this."

"Oh," Lalisa suddenly seems thoughtful. "So if I hadn't bumped into you..."

"You're quite of an exception," Jisoo says, laughing, snatching a restrained smile from Jennie, who lowers her head again.

"I would certainly be friends with you even if you two didn't bump into each other. Seriously. I mean, come on, Lisa, look at you!" Chaeyoung claims, placing her hands on her face while faking an exaggeratedly passionate expression.

Lalisa laughs, her hand on her lips again as she shakes her head from side to side. Jennie just nods quietly, smiling more broadly.

"It's true. We'd make Jennie interact with you too."

"Why?" the Thai girl asks, still laughing a little.

"You're, uh... you have sort of a... a charm," Jennie says, surprising her friends once again. "You get attention, like, naturally. And you're really, um, nice and have a good energy. And... yeah," shrugs, "It's... nice having you around."

"_Oh_," Lalisa seems to be suddenly out of words. She smiles without showing her teeth, for the first time expressing shyness. "Thank you. Before I got here, I was a little nervous. Actually, I was beyond nervous. I was afraid to do or say something wrong or dumb. I have never interacted with foreigners before coming here. And my first interaction was bumping into you and pouring water on both of us. So... yeah. At least I made friends. I guess."

Lalisa shrugs after finishing her statement, causing laughter in everyone at the table.

"We found someone who talks more than Chaeyoung," Jisoo jokes, getting a weak slap from the long-haired girl in response. “Deukie, we need to run away. Like, right now. These two won’t let us live.”

“Ya!” Chaeyoung whimpers, giggling right after. “I can’t help being talkative, okay? It’s just that my brain works really hard and I have to let it all out at some point.”

"Yeah, sure. Anyways, I think Lalisa needs more juice after that monologue. And oxygen, apparently," Jisoo says, getting up and pulling Chaeyoung with her.

Jennie feels her heart beating faster as she realizes she's about to be alone with the Thai girl one more time. Maybe it isn’t going to be too bad.

It won't be bad. It doesn’t have to be.

"Soo?" she calls quietly.

"Mmm?" Jisoo smiles at her, confirming Jennie's theory that her friend knows exactly what she's doing. _Okay_. She doesn't need to be angry with Jisoo over this.

"Can you bring me more juice too?"

"We’ll see," it's what Jisoo replies. The shortest girl rolls her eyes playfully.

As they pull away, Jennie involuntarily shrinks a little against her seat, trying to force her brain to work properly and find some way to keep the conversation going.

"Thank you for welcoming me so well," fortunately, Lalisa soon breaks the silence. "I wasn't kidding when I said I was nervous. I was really unsure about speaking another language with people who are native."

"You're doing great," Jennie says as she realizes how well Lalisa masters her language when she's comfortable and relaxed enough. However, she doesn't oralize that thought; what slips out of her lips when she looks into the thai girl's expressive, smiling eyes is so impulsive that she immediately feels like hiding when she hears her own voice, "I like your accent."

"My accent?" Lalisa mutters, her eyes slightly wide in the girl's direction.

"Yeah," Jennie responds in the same tone, struggling to sustain the stares. "It's cute."

The last sentence is barely audible. Jennie regrets saying it as soon as the words slip off her mouth, feeling like staring anything but the foreign girl.

Lalisa's eyes practically disappear as she flashes a radiant smile, with no answer to give back. Jennie watches her silently, feeling like smiling too. And so she does, not bothering to suppress her will this time.

The regret suddenly fades away.

For some reason, she wants to get closer to the sweet Thai girl and try to engage one more subject, but she simply can't. The words feel like a knot stuck in her throat.

Luckily, Jisoo and Chaeyoung return to the table and bring with them more juice and a brand new subject that Jennie is unwilling to pay attention to, as she is immersed in her own bubble of frustrating thoughts while sipping her juice. She risks looking at Lalisa. She finds herself staring at the girl's well-designed profile, watching her communicate so easily with her friends.

She really hopes it isn’t a bad idea for her to keep Lisa close.

—

Jennie now has a group work to do.

She is definitely not surprised that Lalisa is in her group — she even risks admitting to herself that it pleases her a little; the fact that this might be a chance for her to spend more time with the Thai girl doesn't really get her freaked out.

Maybe Jennie can learn more about her; maybe Jennie can teach her new things too; maybe Jennie can hear more of her ridiculously cute accent; maybe Jennie won't regret trying to get to know her better.

Jennie really prefers to doubt that she’ll regret it.

Lalisa Manoban irradiates an extraordinary energy.

She is far from being an unpleasant person. It has been barely a day since Jennie met her, but she has noticed that there is a lightness in absolutely everything the Thai girl does; Lalisa is spontaneous, eccentric, kind of dorky and has such a pleasant, contagious and radiant aura.

Jennie thinks she can easily associate Lisa with the Sun itself.

"Jen?" the girl immediately looks up as her nickname comes from the familiar soft voice. "Alright there?" Jennie nods and shows her friend a slight smile. Chaeyoung smiles back at her, feeling the sincerity in her answer.

"So, we have a whole month to do this. It _has_ to be perfect. It’ll be the best sociocultural analysis of Thailand that our teacher will ever see," Jisoo says, smiling at the girls’ chuckles.

"Your modesty enchants me. But you better keep up that enthusiasm every day we need to meet to study and do research together," Chaeyoung pushes the older girl's shoulder slightly.

"I will. It's a matter of honor now. We can't embarass ourselves in front of Lisa. It would be awful. She has to believe we're responsible at least once."

"_I'm_ responsible," Jennie's voice is finally heard, but in a false offended tone. She supresses the urge to duck her head when she feels Lalisa's amused gaze on her.

"Indeed," Jisoo nods, smirking. "Jennie is by far the most responsible and focused of us. I'm just a lost case. And Chaeyoung... I mean, at least she tries..."

The long-haired girl rolls her eyes playfully while shrugging, as Lalisa giggles loudly and Jennie lets out a restrained laugh.

"Chu, we gotta go. The bus just got there," Chaeyoung warns, adjusting her backpack on one shoulder.

Jennie suddenly feels her stomach flutter.

She’s about to be alone with the Thai girl once again until it’s time to go home. She’s going to have Lalisa’s full attention.

"Okay," Jisoo mutters, subtly squeezing Jennie's cheek before getting to her feet. "Ya, Lalisa, take care of my toddler. Bye-bye."

"Yes, Captain," the Thai girl salutes, chuckling. "Bye-bye."

Lalisa repeats the last words in Jisoo’s speech, which causes a laugh in Jennie.

The accent is still there. Adorable as ever.

"Huh?" Lalisa tilts her head, a confused frown forming on her forehead. "What are you laughing at?"

Jennie feels her cheeks heating up and fights the urge to look away. She didn't realize Lalisa was so focused on her to the point she could notice her laughter, no matter how low it was.

"Oh, no, don't stop smiling. I just want to know what was it," Jennie witnesses a lapse of shyness in Lalisa for the second time this day.

"Your accent," Jennie mutters, shrugging slightly. "You just mimicked what Chaeyoung said. And you know what it means, but it was still funny to hear because your accent is really, um, clear."

"Oh," Lalisa nods slowly. "Is it too bad?"

"No!" Jennie hurries to answer. "No way. It's nice. I-I like it. Really. It’s not bad at all."

"Good," Lalisa says, nodding, a small grin hiding at the corner of her lips. She fiddles her bangs quickly. "Are you going home alone? Why didn't you go with the girls?"

"My parents' driver picks me up and brings me to school every day," Jennie explains.

"Ah..." Lisa murmurs, thoughtfully. "That's good, isn't it?"

"I don't know," Jennie frowns slightly. "I wish I could go with the girls on the bus, actually. It’d be a lot more fun."

"Don't your parents let you take the bus?" Jennie just shakes her head. "But why?"

"My parents are weird," that’s all Jennie says.

"Parents are weird," Lalisa points out.

Jennie smiles.

“How are you going home?” the shortest girl asks, hesitantly letting out a suggestion. “I can give you a ride if you want.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll go by myself. Thank you. It isn’t far from here. I work out every chance I get to,” Lisa says, flexing her slender arms playfully. Jennie giggles, closing her eyes for a moment.

Lisa can also make her laugh and feel comfortable effortlessly. Apparently, there’s a long ass list of things that Lalisa Manoban is good at. Seems like she isn’t aware of it, though.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'd like to point a few things out; english isn't my first language and i learned it on my own, so i am really sorry if there are any spelling or grammatical errors. also, this is the first thing i'm uploading here and i actually don't expect more than one person (which is myself) reading it, so if you happen to find it and read it:
> 
> 1) hi;  
2) i hope you enjoy it;  
3) feel free to occasionaly leave comments;  
4) opinions, ramblings or any kind of random stuff are valid;  
5) that's it.


	2. as if by magic

“Do you think this is appropriate? Is this the sort of conduct that a Kim should present?” Jennie shrinks a bit, lowering her head, the hamming of her heart on her chest starting to become unbearable. “When I ask you a question, I demand a proper answer. I don’t think you’re stupid enough not to do that. Are you?”

Jennie struggles to keep her eyes open, her father's harsh words hitting her like a stab.

Her throat burns. She can't cry.

“No, sir. I’m sorry,” the girl says, forcing her voice no to sound shaky. “I—I’ll get better. I’m sorry. This will not happen again.”

“I hope so. Don’t disappoint me.”

The tall man says, staring sharply at Jennie’s watery eyes before leaving the room.

Jennie inhales roughly, feeling her chest tighten. Seems like her lungs are suddenly out of oxygen and she has no idea of how she can fill them up again.

It hurts. _Everything_ hurts.

There is an uncomfortable cold in her stomach that makes her nauseous, her eyesight getting a bit blurry.

“Honey?”

She quickly turns her face against her mom’s hesitant voice. Suddenly, maintaining eye contact is too hard and quite painful. A soft touch lifts up her head and the sweet eyes can almost soothe the terrible mess in her body.

“He’s just too rough sometimes, sweetheart, isn’t he?”

_Sometimes?_ Jennie feels like scoffing.

“It’s just some harsh words. Nothing else. You’re a good girl. A smart, beautiful, sweet girl.”

Jennie represses the urge to simply burst into tears. A single tear sheds down her cheek. Her eyes close tightly so that no other tears will escape and she won’t be able to contain herself anymore.

“It’s okay, honey. You’re going to be just fine. I got to go now. He’s waiting for me,” the woman stands up. Jennie remains silent. “Call your friends over.”

She simply nods, even though her mom has already left the room as well.

In her bedroom, Jennie thinks it’s finally safe enough to let out some more tears.

She doesn’t feel uncomfortable by the fact that Kai is sitting on the fuzzy rug watching her crying silently and Kuma climbs up right away and snuggles softly his slightly wet nose against her arm.

She picks up her phone, her trembling fingers typing a message to Jisoo.

Internally, it almost feels like a distress call. Jennie doesn’t even mind to think about formulating a proper message; Jisoo knows her well enough to know exactly what those kind of sudden texts mean.

**[03:21p.m.]  
** _are you busy?_

**[03:22p.m.]  
** _what happened?_

**[03:22p.m.]  
** _dad_

**[03:22p.m.]  
** _we’re coming_

Jennie lets out a small sore laugh, putting her phone aside and hugging her knees tightly against her chest.

She finds a bit astonishing the thought of how nice would it be if Lalisa could come over too. Yet, it sounds so good, so... _right_.

She’s quite sure the Thai girl would make her feel better as if by magic, really, and she could probably do it with her bright smile only.

Of course she wouldn’t complain if Lisa came up with her ridiculously cute accent too, telling her dumb jokes — or just being the dork that Jennie thinks she isn’t aware of being.

These sudden odd thoughts make Jennie want for the rest of the day to pass faster so that tomorrow comes and she can finally see Lalisa again. Then, they can spend more time together.

Jennie can potentially put some effort on thinking about some small talk so they wouldn’t run out of topics.

She just doesn’t want to seem or _be_ a boring person.

It’d be tremendously unfair that Lalisa, with all her energetic and radiant glory, had to waste her time with Jennie’s awkwardness, she thinks.

She is awakened from her reveries with the ringing of the doorbell. Going downstairs, she can’t help but imagine how much she would enjoy if Lalisa happened to be there as soon as she opened the door.

Obviously, she isn’t.

Jennie doesn’t feel sad, really, because as much as she would like for the Thai girl to be with her, having Jisoo and Chaeyoung around is always invigorating and they’re the perfect company now.

—

“This guy... I swear to God...” Jisoo lets out an irritated snort and throws herself against the soft mattress.

“He’s unnecessarily rough. This is... this is bad, Jen. You can’t go through this forever. You don’t have to,” the long-haired girl rubs Jennie’s tear-stained cheeks gently.

“I know,” Jennie mutters. “High school is almost over. It’s just a matter of time.”

_She hopes so._

“It doesn’t have to be like that, you know...” Jisoo says.

“Just...” Jennie sighs, staring at her hands balled in tight fists. “Can we just change the subject, please? I don’t want to ruin the mood even more.”

“You’re not ruining the mood, we’re here to make you feel better. That’s what friends are supposed to do.”

“I know... but I don’t like talking about my dad. It’s always frustrating. Talking about it won’t sort things with him. He won’t ever change. I’ve kind of accepted it already.”

“Okay, maybe he won’t change, but you don’t need to keep it all to yourself. We’re here for you, when the _hell_ will you get it?” Jisoo exclaims exasperatedly.

“You know I hate agreeing with what Jisoo says, but that’s just it. Why hide in hearts when you can just spill it?”

Jennie gives them her typical blank look, which they know exactly what it means: she won’t say anything until they finally change the subject.

“What’s with this face, miss?” Jisoo teases.

“This is my happy face,” Jennie claims, resting her chin on both hands.

“D’you know what this reminds me of?” Chaeyoung suddenly chuckles.

“Food, I assume,” the oldest girl answers, getting a small giggle from the cat-eyed girl.

Chaeyoung rolls her eyes, but ends up laughing too.

“I was actually talking about Lisa. I’m starting to get hungry, though...”

“What does Lisa have to do with that?” Jisoo asks.

Jennie doesn’t know exactly why, but she feels the urge to seem unbothered by the fact that Lalisa Manoban is going to be their main topic now, even though she’s far from feeling unbothered by this.

“You know, Jen’s 'happy face'. This is, like, her thing. I know it’s a total different context, but today it was quite weird seeing someone as radiant as Lisa is all the time. She’s like a whole Sun.”

_I know she is._

Jennie feels like smiling.

“I _know_! A happy virus. I don’t know how she can handle it, seriously, people aren’t even nice to her all the time,” Jisoo states.

“She doesn’t deserve to be here, really. There's a whole world out there and she got to be sent to our school. I mean, who do we need to thank? The Holy Spirit?” Chaeyoung says and a small giggle is heard. It’s Jennie's.

“I hope she wants to sit with us tomorrow too,” Jennie wishes out loud, drawing her friends' attention.

“You really liked her, didn’t you?” Chaeyoung asks with a soft smile.

Jennie takes a little while to respond. Even though she is totally sure of her answer, it’s a bit hard to admit it to someone other than herself.

“Yes,” she says, then. “She’s nice.”

“_Nice?!_” Jisoo gasps dramatically. “Holy shit. You just complimented a person that isn’t us or your dogs. That girl must be Jesus Christ masquerading as a drop-dead gorgeous Thai teenager with cute bangs or something like that.”

The room is filled with laughs. Jennie throws a pillow at the oldest girl, rolling her eyes although she’s still giggling.

“Shut up. She’s just a really nice person. It’s not my fault that everyone else in that school sucks,” Jennie simply shrugs.

Why can’t her heart stop beating so stupidly fast for no reason?

There is not even a reason, right?

—

“Mom?” Jennie bites her lip, holding the straps of her backpack tightly.

“Yes, honey?”

“I, um— Can I go home by myself today? I mean, with Chaeyoung and Jisoo.”

“Why so?”

“Jisoo, Chaeyoung and I have a group work to do and– well... there’s this new girl, Lalisa Manoban. She’s one of the exchange students that were sent to our school,” Jennie explains, avoiding her mom’s gentle look. “She’s sort of an extra member in our group. And we intend to meet at Jisoo’s... if that’s okay.”

The older Kim nods, sipping on the steaming coffee cup.

“What’s this group work about?”

Jennie blinks.

It’s always kind of weird when someone other than her friends actually show interest to what she’s saying.

“Um, we need to do a sociocultural analysis about Thailand. Each group has an exchange student in and has to do a sociocultural analysis about the corresponding country. Lalisa is Thai, and thus ours will be about Thailand,” Jennie gets a little carried away, the corners of her lips raising a bit.

“Sounds pretty fruitless.”

The deep voice fills the room. Jennie’s smile fades away as quickly as it showed up.

“It isn’t fruitless, Hyunwoo. It’s knowledge,” her moms replies lightly.

“Will this add anything to your school grade?” he asks.

“It— I don’t...” Jennie stutters.

“Hyunwoo, don’t start this now,” the woman warns, gazing once more on Jennie’s faltering figure. “It’s okay, honey. Just make sure you’re safe. And remember your curfew.”

Jennie sighs in relief as soon as her parents leave.

—

In all her standoffishness, she sits on a bench considerably distant from the usual morning mess of the schoolyard.

Jennie is most likely found there before the classes start, since she arrives at school much earlier than her friends do.

She also enjoys sitting under the Ipe tree when she’s in a mood good enough to ignore the ants that occasionally might bite her butt — it’s on her, though. They’re just out there, minding their own business, doing their jobs protecting their family and home.

When Jennie raises her head a bit, an unusual sight catches fully her attention.

Lalisa Manoban is there, standing far from the rest of the teenagers, facing the Sun. Jennie can’t see her face, but she notices that the Thai girl’s hands are placed together in sort of a praying sign at chin-level. She remains motionless for a while, then suddenly turns around and starts pacing peacefully.

Jennie looks away outright, feeling her heart racing pathetically when she realizes she got caught.

The amount of heat that she feels spreading over her cheeks is ridiculous. She lowers her head on instinct, tapping slightly on her tigh in a bit weird feeling of expectation as she sees, with her peripheral vision, Lalisa getting closer and closer.

“Why so down?” the melodious voice crawls softly into her ears, then she finds the guts to raise her head a bit.

Jennie frowns slightly, but a little smile starts lighting up her face.

“What?” she asks, humming internally in joy as the Thai girl sits right beside her.

“Your head. Why is it so down?” Lalisa explains, then.

“Oh,” Jennie shrugs hesitantly. “I don’t know.”

“Thai culture considers the head to be the most important part of the body. It is... it’s—” she stutters, her accent standing out, marked and clear. A sort of shy chuckle escapes off her mouth. Jennie smiles. “Sorry. I still mess up the language sometimes.”

“Don’t worry,” Jennie mutters softly. “It’s okay. You’re doing good.”

“Am I?” The Thai girl aks, followed by a quick nod from the shortest girl. “Oh. Alright. Thank you,” she zones out for a few seconds. “Wait, what was I saying?”

“You were talking about heads in Thai culture,” Jennie says with a giggly voice.

“Of course,” Lisa clears her throat, “I was just testing you.”

With that, Jennie’s laugh intensifies to the point that her eyes can barely be seen.

“Okay,” Lalisa nods to herself after staring at the cat-eyed girl longer than she actually intended to. “So, heads. Uh, so, in Thai culture, we associate heads with something untouchable and sacred. That’s why it’s important for two people to keep their head raised at the same level for showing respect, basically. Also, it is considered rude to touch a stranger’s head. Friends and family often touch each other’s head or hair, but in this case, it’s okay.”

“Oh,” Jennie nods, genuinely interested. “I didn’t know that.”

“Now you do,” Lisa says, then gets amused when involuntarily the shortest girl lowers her head again. “Head up!” She says, chuckling.

“Sorry,” Jennie grins, sheepishly.

“It’s okay. Things don’t work the same way here, I know.”

“Don’t worry,” Jennie says, “I really enjoy getting to know foreign cultures and I— I, uh... I don’t want to be disrespectful whatsoever and I want to make you feel— I want you to have a great time here.”

Jennie feels the urge to look away, feeling her face heating up profusely. That doesn’t go unnoticed by the Thai girl, of course.

“What’s wrong?” Lisa points at Jennie’s slightly reddish cheeks. The shortest girl sighs, not really knowing how to answer, so she simply shrugs, giving the other girl an embarrassed grin. “Oh. You’re shy. I remembered. Am I making you uncomfortable?”

“No...” Jennie can’t repress the laugh that comes off her mouth. “Just... keep talking.”

“Okay,” the Thai girl zones out again, which amuses Jennie. The look on Lisa’s face is priceless. “So... like I was saying, I am having a great time here for sure, but that’s because I have an amazing host friend such as you.”

Such as _her_.

Before she can even formulate a proper answer, Chaeyoung and Jisoo come out from nowhere, causing a small jumpscare on both girls.

“Morning, you two,” the long-haired girl’s sweet voice greets.

“Seems like it’s already a nice day going on,” Jisoo says, stretching her arms lazily.

“Quite possibly,” Lisa responds, her smile not faltering.

“Oh, yeah?” Jisoo smirks, flickering her gaze to the cat-eyed girl. “Well then.”

—

“Did you know that if you cut off a snail’s eye, it will grow a new one?”

Lisa’s sudden quiet voice interrupts Jennie’s thoughts and stopping her hand from scribbling on her paper.

The shortest girl glances up confusedly, seeing the Thai girl sitting in the grass right beside her.

“Oh?” Jennie mumbles, blinking twice. “It will?”

Lisa nods, a small grin with a hint of shyness on her lips.

“At least that’s what Google says,” she shrugs, the bottom of her lip being bit. “I feel like I don’t need to embarrass myself that much to try talking to you, do I?

Jennie puts her pen aside, struggling to soak in the idea of Lalisa actually wanting to be around her.

“You’re actually better at starting small talks than I’ll ever be,” Jennie says in a quiet, giggly voice. “But why would someone cut off a snail’s eye?”

“Oh, well,” Lisa’s hand moves to the back of her neck while her nose gets a little bit scrunchy. Jennie thinks the way shyness affects Lisa’s body language is absolutely adorable. “I just wanted to have a good reason to come here and talk to you. And so I did, and now you’re being disturbed by a Thai girl that pretty much embarrasses herself all the time but at least now you have some extra scientific knowledge that your brain will probably discard later since it’s useless unless you want to make conversation with someone.”

At this point, Jennie can’t fight her smile any longer.

“Huh,” the Thai girl mumbles, furrowing her eyebrows thoughtfully. “Perhaps that isn’t too worthless. I got a smile from you.”

The cat-eyed girl slightly looks away as though she wants to hide the blush that’s taking over her face.

“Your brain works really, really hard,” Jennie lets out.

“It does,” Lisa chuckles, her smile fading away a bit as her eyes meet Jennie’s, “and I guess it’s working harder now.”

“How come?” Jennie asks genuinely, her head tilting to the side slightly.

“Uh,” the Thai girl presses her lips together. “Too much… going on.”

“Like random scientific knowledge?” Jennie teases, smirking.

“Mhm,” Lisa nods, “and host friends.”

_Oh._

Jennie is completely out of words.

She can feel her cheeks heating up, as well as the tallest girl’s gaze on her.

When Jennie looks up again, Lisa smiles softly at her and, as if by magic, the gesture is reciprocated.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> first and foremost i'd like to make clear how surprised and happy i am for the feedback that i had in the very first chapter. seriously, thank you a lot for the incredible support. i didn't expect having lovely comments such as the ones i got.
> 
> i also would like to say sorry for taking too long to post a new chapter; writing is almost a religious process to me because i involuntarily take it too seriously, and it requires a little more from me when it comes to do it in another language. high school is also slowly murdering me, so... yeah. but i can keep up with this :)
> 
> ahhh, and the chapters will get longer as the story unfolds. by the way, i would like to emphasize again that:
> 
> 1) opinions, ramblings or any kind of random stuff are valid if you might want to spill something in the comments session;  
2) still can't get over the amount of support;  
3) i'm actually curious to know what are your thoughts about this whole thing;  
4) but no pressure, tell me only if you want to;  
5) that's it.

**Author's Note:**

> i'd like to point a few things out; english isn't my first language and i learned it on my own, so i am really sorry if there are any spelling or grammatical errors. also, this is the first thing i'm uploading here and i actually don't expect more than one person (which is myself) reading it, so if you happen to find it and read it:
> 
> 1) hi;  
2) i hope you enjoy it;  
3) feel free to occasionaly leave comments;  
4) opinions, ramblings or any kind of random stuff are valid;  
5) that's it.


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